As the girls basketball team entered the stadium, victory was the sole thing on their mind. After a hard loss to Langley to end their season, the girls were ready to make a statement in the first round of district play against Wakefield. They planned to come into this game as prepared as they could be, taking no minute of practice for granted.
“We did a walkthrough of their players and what their offensive tendencies are so we can have the best chance to win,” sophomore Cora Stevens said.
And prepared they were, coming out with 3 straight steals fronted by senior and district co-player of the year Tatum Olson. Dominant paint play by senior Ally Hodder and shooting by Stevens helped McLean jump out to an early lead, up 10-4 at the end of the first quarter.
The Highlanders had no intentions of stopping in the second quarter, jumping out to a 16-6 lead amidst consistent lockdown defense and forcing a much needed timeout by Wakefield.
But momentum shifts both ways, as right off the timeout Wakefield scored 5 straight, forcing a timeout from McLean to ensure their lead didn’t spiral away.
But spiral away it did not, and McLean went on a dominating 16-3 run to put the score at 32-14 at the half. During this run of points, Olson achieved her biggest feat in her McLean career, scoring her 1000th point as a Highlander. This was followed by a short stoppage to congratulate this achievement, with parents and students waiving papers and signs with “1000” written on it.
Coming out of the half, the Highlanders put pedal to the metal, scoring 12 points straight lead by Senior Alyssa Evans, Olson and Hodder. On the defensive side, Olson was showing no mercy, pick-pocketing any opponent that came close to her with the ball.
The third quarter ended in a landslide 56-18 score, with McLean scoring 24 to Wakefield’s 4 points. As backups started coming into the game, starters took a rest on the bench and cheered on their teammates that don’t get as much playing time.
In the fourth quarter, the scoring seemed to die down, and McLean was focused on holding the ball and running the clock down. When the clock finally hit triple zeros, the final score was 64-20 for McLean.
“As a team we all knew this was a win or go home game,” Stevens said. “Collectively we were all eager to get onto the court and play our hardest and that showed tonight.”
Now, the Highlanders are set to face Washington-Liberty on Feb. 19, with a shot to make it to the District Championship and qualify for Regionals. With little time to prepare, they look to do everything they can do to have the edge over a Washington-Liberty team that they split 1-1 against in the regular season.
“Playing back to back games can be rough, and [Washington-Liberty] is one of those teams where the match-ups are always competitive,” Stevens said. “Everyone on our team knows who on their team is a scorer, what role everyone plays on the team and what defense they might throw at us so we’re ready for anything that comes our way.”
